1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch device mainly used to operate various electronic devices in a vehicle.
2. Background Art
In recent years, there have been more vehicles in which switches of various operation types are mounted on a steering wheel or a front panel, and various electronic devices such as air conditioners and audio devices in the vehicle are operated by the switch devices. Generally, in such switch devices, there extend a plurality of lead lines electrically connected from a rear side to a vehicle body. In a state where the lead lines are kept and fixed at a predetermined position of the switch device by a binding band, the switch devices are mounted in the vicinity of the steering wheel or in a limited housing space of the front panel (for example, see Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2007-257979).
Such a switch device of the prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 6C. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the rear side of the switch device of the prior art which is disposed upward. FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are perspective views illustrating the switch device of the prior art. FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C are cross-sectional views illustrating the main parts of the switch device of the prior art. In the following description, the front face and the front side indicate the lower side in the drawings, and the rear face and the rear side indicate the upper side in the drawings.
The switch device includes front case 101, operation body 102, intermediate case 103, wiring board 104, push switch 105, press pin 106, connector 107, lead lines 108, insulating tube 109, rear case 111, holding body 112, and binding band 113. Front case 101 is formed of an insulating resin, is substantially a box shape, and has a passage on the rear side. Operation body 102 is mounted on the front side of front case 101 to be movable up and down. Intermediate case 103 is formed of an insulating resin, and is provided to cover the passage on the rear side of front case 101. Wiring board 104 is provided with a plurality of wiring patterns (not shown) on the upper and lower faces thereof. Push switch 105 is mounted on the upper face of wiring board 104 as an automatic returning switch contact point. Press pin 106 is inserted into intermediate case 103 and is guided, and both ends thereof come in contact with the rear face of operation body 102 and press button 105A of push switch 105, respectively. As a result, electrical connection and disconnection of push switch 105 is performed through press pin 106 according to the operation of operation body 102. Connecter 107 is mounted on the rear face of wiring board 104. One end of the plurality of lead lines 108 is fixed to connector 107, and the other end is inserted into insulating tube 109. Harness portion 110 is formed from lead lines 108 and insulating tube 109.
Rear case 111 is formed of an insulating resin, and covers the rear side of intermediate case 103 and wiring board 104. Harness portion 110 extends outward from opening portion 111A of rear case 111. The other end of lead lines 108 of harness portion 110 is connected to an electronic circuit of a vehicle to control an electronic device such as an audio device according to the operation of operation body 102.
Holding body 112 protrudes from the rear face of rear case 111, and is formed in a substantially reverse L-shape. Fixing portion 112A provided to extend substantially parallel to the rear face of rear case 111 is formed at the upper part of holding body 112.
Binding band 113 is formed of an insulating resin such as polyamide, and is provided with fastener portion 113A having engagement hole 113C therein in a substantially rectangular shape at one end thereof. Band portion 113B provided with locking portion 113D with a substantially sawtooth-shaped cross section on the front face in a band shape extends from fastener portion 113A.
In the switch device of the prior art, a state where harness portion 110 extends outward from rear case 111 as shown in FIG. 5A becomes a state where harness portion 110 is fixed to rear case 111 by binding band 113 and holding body 112 as shown in FIG. 5B. Specifically, a user allows harness portion 110 to approach fixing portion 112A of holding body 112, and winds it by band portion 113B to be fastened. Band portion 113B is inserted into engagement hole 113C of fastener portion 113A, and locking portion 113D is locked to engagement hole 113. Accordingly, harness portion 110 is fixed to a predetermined position of holding body 112.
To fix harness portion 110 to holding body 112 using binding band 113, first, as shown in FIG. 6A, the user allows band portion 113B to pass through from the right side of fixing portion 112A to the lower portion of fixing portion 112A and harness portion 110.
As shown in FIG. 6B, harness portion 110 moved to the left side of fixing portion 112A and fixing portion 112A are wound by band portion 113B, and then are tightly fastened by passing band portion 113B through engagement hole 113C of fastener portion 113A. As shown in FIG. 6C, with locking portion 113D locked to engagement hole 113C, an unnecessary part of a tip of band portion 113B is cutoff, and harness portion 110 is fixed to fixing portion 112A of holding body 112 by binding band 113.
The switch device having the configuration described above is mounted, for example, on a spoke portion in the vicinity of a steering wheel, and an electric signal corresponding to an operation is output from push switch 105 to the electronic circuit of the vehicle through lead lines 108 by operating any of the plurality of operation bodies 102 with a finger with the handle held, to control the electronic device such as an audio device in the vehicle.
However, when the tip of band portion 113B is inserted into engagement hole 113C while band portion 113B is wound upward by passing band portion 113B through the lower portion of fixing portion 112A and harness portion 110, it is necessary to wind band portion 113B extending in a linear shape by about 270° or more with one hand while holding fastener portion 113A with the other hand. For this reason, time is spent on a fixing operation of harness portion 110 to fixing portion 112A by binding band 113. In addition, in handling such as the transport of the switch device and installation of the switch device to a vehicle, binding band 113 may become dislodged forward and backward from fixing portion 112A, or rotate left and right to easily cause a positional deviation of harness portion 110, and the fixing of harness portion 110 to holding body 112 may not be stable.